


The Personal Experiences of an Extraterrestrial Nonessential Quarantined Spy

by notjodieyet



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: A Very Bored O, Blatant Disregard For Human Lifeforms in General, F/M, Fits Into My Other Fics' Timelines Mostly, Implied Sexual Content (not yet but later), Lonely Master, M/M, Muting Problems, Quarantine, Season 12 Spoilers (Spyfall), Sewing, Sort of ADHD Master Rights But Actually Just My Own Quarantine Experience, Zoom Mixups, dance party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjodieyet/pseuds/notjodieyet
Summary: The Master is in quarantine. He has no idea how to entertain himself.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor & The Master (Dhawan), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	The Personal Experiences of an Extraterrestrial Nonessential Quarantined Spy

The Master leaned forward and tapped his fingertips lightly on his company-provided laptop keyboard, watching his coworkers talk in little squares on the screen and trying not to fall asleep.

  
“So, we haven’t been deemed essential workers?” said Y, sucking her teeth and pushing her eyebrows together like she did when she was upset. The Master had filed it down as one of her mannerisms from day one.

  
“You’ll be working from home.” The Master saw C look off to the edge of the screen, as if to somebody else there. He had nothing better to do than guess who C might be looking at. A cat? A spouse? Did C have a spouse? Or better yet, why did the Master care? (He did not, actually. He was using the game to keep his brain occupied.) “There are agents in the field who are still working —”

  
The Master muted the tab and tried to read C’s lips. It was a much more amusing endeavor than listening to C actually talk. “But you, as my beloved subjects, will be staying home and orchestrating the complete and utter takedown of London,” murmured the Master, smiling dreamily at the thought.

  
He saw Y speaking, looking even more concerned than previously (he could tell because her eyebrows were marching together like opposing armies on different sides of some horrible eyebrow war) and the Master unmuted the tab, sighing.

  
“Are you okay, O?”

The Master pointed at himself. “Me? Okay? Of course I’m okay.”

  
“I mean, you just said something about London, so…”

  
The Master felt his face go hot. “Oh, I was, erm, just talking with my boyfriend. Our little joke, you know?” _Boyfriend_? How could he keep _boyfriend_ up? O had never mentioned a boyfriend before. In fact, the Master was pretty sure _his_ Doctor was a woman.

  
“Of course,” said Y.

  
C frowned for a moment, then continued talking about paperwork. The Master leaned back and daydreamed about leveling the entire city to the ground.

* * *

When the Google Meet or Zoom meeting or whatever ended, the Master slammed his laptop shut and bounced to his feet. Time to himself. Time to himself… whatever would he do with time to himself? He had wanted a bit of de-stress time, and with the world on lockdown and people dying, now was the perfect time.  
(Not that the Master condoned pandemics, or indeed, needless death outside of his own murder sprees, but humans dying did not concern him much. Especially since he knew exactly how this pandemic would end.)

  
The Master shoved aside the thought that what he’d really been longing for was some alone time with the Doctor, because the Doctor was not here and therefore none of his business right now. Apart from the fact that the Doctor was always his business. And apart from the fact that this quarantine would be well spent lazily kissing and making love on every possible surface in the Master’s tiny flat.

  
His TARDIS was in the closet, although it had been acting up lately and he’d told it to calm down or he’d dispose of it entirely. There had to be some old project in there, though, something he’d started a while ago and never really bothered to finish.

  
The TARDIS whistled at him angrily as he stepped through its doors. He paid it no heed. In the back of his workroom, he found a few bolts of a nice purple fabric and his old Victorian era sewing machine, which required a bit of handcranking but was a pretty thing anyway, and he carried his findings back to the living room and slammed the closet door shut behind him. It was about time he had a walking skirt that actually fit him, constricting Earth gender roles be damned.  
The Master put on some music while he worked, measuring and cutting pattern pieces and then fabric. Sewing had always been a thing he was surprisingly good at, despite the patience it required. Perhaps it was the absolute control of making something out of nothing. Or perhaps he just liked using a sharp object.  
“I remember when, I remember when I lost my mind,” said the Master to himself, twirling around the open floor of his flat. He could dance all right, a skill learned as an excuse to press his body up close to the Doctor’s, and he liked the beat of the music in his blood. This mouth could sing. The Doctor would like that.  
He ended up handsewing a good portion of the skirt, an ambitious undertaking, but it wasn’t as if he had much else to do. Maybe the Master would like this quarantine.

  
“Does that make me craaazy? I might be craaaazy.” Stitch, stitch. “Do you think I could get the Doctor here?” he asked his potted plant, who did not respond. “Interesting perspective, really.”

  
He held up his handiwork. It was most certainly not anywhere near complete. The Master set it down and collapsed on the sofa, taking out his phone. _Hey Doc!!! I’m quarantined._

  
bastard 💕: are u all right????

Me: I’m fine.  
Me: a bit bored tho

bastard 💕: have u tried making bread

Me: No? Should I

bastard 💕: quickest way to a girls heart  
bastard 💕: do u like girls i forget  
bastard 💕: boys too  
bastard 💕: and other people  
bastard 💕: friends heart quickest way to a friends heart

Me: Friends are good

bastard 💕: i would come visit but dont want to get the fam sick

Me: Ah well. I have work to do anyway.

The Master tossed his phone back down. Talking to the Doctor was making him feel… lonely. Was lonely the right word? He didn’t feel lonely. He never felt lonely. (What was that hollow feeling in his chest, though? The ache to be kissed and held and loved?)

  
He reached over and turned the music off, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes, feeling suddenly exhausted. It had been two or three hours since C’s meeting, and yet he’d felt a million more things than he usually did in two or three hours. Was this what quarantine was going to be like? He hoped not. It was exhausting.

  
The Master fell asleep.


End file.
